Is a high IQ enough to mean that you will have a great career?

I.Q. (intelligence quotient) in general, is an assessment of your ability to think and reason. IQ score is a standardized way of comparing this ability with the majority of people the same age as you are.

A score of 100 means that compared to these people in your general age group that you have basically an average intelligence. Your score on an IQ test will give you a pretty accurate indication of the ability you possess to think, reason and solve problems which can often be critical in many phases of your life.

However, most jobs and situations through life will need you to work with and understand other people. A high IQ alone doesn’t mean that you have the ability to get the most out of people or even yourself.

There is a second indicator called E.Q. (emotional quotient) which is the capability of individuals to recognize their own, and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior. Emotional intelligence is generally said to include 3 skills:

1. Emotional awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others
2. The ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problems solving
3. The ability to manage emotions, including the ability to regulate your own emotions, and the ability to cheer up or calm down another person

Life in general is a series of decisions. Emotions do play an important role in the decision making process. Anxiety can keep you from making a poor choice and boredom can ignite a spark that leads you to follow your passion.

You need to ensure that you’re aware of your emotions. By doing this you’re better equipped to make balanced choices. Pay attention to how you’re feeling and recognize how this may distort your thinking and influence your behavior.

Raise your logic and decrease your emotional reactivity by listing the pros and cons of a tough decision. Seeing the facts on paper can help you think rationally about your options and prevent your emotions from getting the best of you.

Remember, your emotions are yours. Nobody else controls them. If you chose to get angry about something, you alone are in control of that. There is no angry switch on display that somebody else can press, when something happens, you have a choice, get angry or move on. Only you can decide how you will react.

Across all business it is now the normal to have rapid and disruptive change. There is a huge need to have resilient, emotionally intelligent people who are able to absorb complex change and help others move forward to achieve success.

There are many studies that show the difference between good leaders and great leaders is not their IQ but their EQ score. If you want to get the most out of yourself and others why not spend a little time reading up more on EQ.

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Malcolm Bennett

Malcolm Bennett has been NGA Human Resources Group Counsel and Company Secretary since January 2015. He was previously Associate General Counsel for over 13 years with IBM and previously held legal positions with CMS Cameron McKenna and BHP Billiton prior to that.

Malcolm has experience in managing teams/departments and structuring and negotiating complex commercial transactions in multiple jurisdictions – he now leads a small team of legal, compliance and security professionals for NGA HR across the globe.

He studied Law at the University of Cape Town and now resides in Manchester with wife and son.

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